Main theme: For decades, Consumer Reports has been at the forefront of advocating for automotive safety, collaborating closely with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to continually elevate safety standards in cars. In this podcast episode, we take you behind the scenes of the IIHS auto crash-test facility in central Virginia. Our experts talk with…
To make the cut to be considered among the best new cars for teens, vehicles must have: • A Consumer Reports recommendation, meaning that it meets our stringent standards for reliability, safety, and road-test performance. • Good ratings in IIHS crashworthiness tests: Driver- and passenger-side small overlap front tests, updated side test, and either a…
Last week Google introduced a radical shake up of search that presents users with AI-generated answers to their queries. Now the company says it will soon start including ads inside those AI Overviews, as the automatic answers are called. Google on Tuesday announced plans to test search and shopping ads in the AI summaries, a…
One of the new ad formats Google announced today will allow brands to link short-form videos they made—or ones they hired creators to film—to their advertisements in Google’s search engine. AI-generated text summaries of the clips will be included below. “I’ve got three Gen Z-ers at home, and watching them shop, it’s very video-based,” said…
Screens can scratch easily, and even paper towels and tissues contain fibers that can do damage. “Your best bet is to use a soft, anti-static microfiber cloth—the kind used to clean eyeglasses and camera lenses—and wipe in a circular motion,” says Scott Meadows, who cleans more than 200 TVs a year in his role as…
Before you go shopping for a portable air conditioner, there are several things to keep in mind that could cause some slight annoyances. They aren’t so portable. Portable AC units come on casters, and you can put them in any room where you can install an exhaust to the outside. But “portable ACs can weigh…
If Apple did drop the “i,” it would hardly be the company’s most significant makeover. Segall points out that the company is familiar with overhauls, and he believes Apple CEO Tim Cook wouldn’t lose any sleep over dropping the Jobs-era prefix. Apple did not respond to a request for comment on this article. “Apple has…
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can appeal his extradition to the United States, a British court has said. Two judges at the High Court in London today said Assange can officially challenge his extradition order from the United Kingdom in the long-running dispute over the leaking and publication of military secrets. Following a two-hour hearing, at…
One issue with LCD-based TVs in particular is that the image can blur during fast-moving scenes, especially in action movies or sports. TV manufacturers use various technologies to reduce motion blur, such as repeating frames or inserting black frames into the video signal. These techniques go by a number of names, including Auto Motion Plus…
Teas made from the tea plant come in four basic varieties: black, oolong, green, and white. They differ in flavor and color depending on how the leaves of the plant are picked, rolled, crushed, and exposed to air before drying. For example, black teas are exposed to the air for an extended period before being…